Are ‘Sight Unseen’ Offers Offers Here to Stay?

 

Whether they're trying to get ahead of the competition or have concerns about COVID-19, more buyers are still choosing to purchase a home without ever stepping foot inside. Clients are relying on virtual tours or video walkthroughs from their real estate agent to help decide which home is right for them.

“I see virtual deals as a trend that will only grow,” Ryan Serhant, CEO of the luxury real estate brokerage Serhant and star of BRAVO’s “Million Dollar Listing New York,” writes for Forbes.com. Even prior to COVID-19, “people were already getting used to seeing homes through their phones and computer screens—not just in person.”

Over the past month, Serhant says he has sold four properties in South Florida for more than $10 million each without a single in-person showing. The deals occurred completely virtually. In July 2020, the real estate brokerage Redfin reported 45% of its consumers who purchased a home in the past year made an offer on a property without first seeing it in person.

Average home sale price hits all-time record

 

The median home sale price increased 16% year-over-year to $331,590 – an all-time high, per a report this week from Redfin. But that’s not stopping buyers from snatching up homes days after they’re listed.

During a four-week period ending March 21 and covering 400 metros, 58% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market. And between March 14 and March 21, 61% of homes sold in that timeframe had been on the market two weeks or less, and 48% had sold in one week or less.

And offers are coming in well-above asking price, too. Nearly 40% of homes sold above their list price – another all-time high – and 15 percentage points higher year-over-year. The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, increased to 100.2%.

This is concerning for experts, though, many of whom believe home prices will remain high even after mortgage rates, inventory, and building material costs recover to pre-pandemic levels. Rates are already above 3% – after falling into the 2% range during the majority of 2020 – but construction companies are still struggling to keep up with insane lumber prices, stifling new builds.

National Association of Home Builders Chairman Chuck Fowke recently noted that supply shortages and high demand have caused lumber prices to jump “about 200%” since April 2020, and the elevated price of lumber is adding approximately $24,000 to the price of a new home.

Vail Resorts slashes Epic Pass prices by 20%

 

Vail Resorts is turning the clock back on its Epic Pass prices to reward loyal customers following a trying year. On Wednesday morning, the resort operator announced that it is lowering the price of passes by 20% across the board.

The reset takes Epic Pass products back to prices last seen during the 2015-16 season, when Vail Resorts offered access to only 11 North American resorts. Now, it offers unlimited access to 34 North American resorts in addition to access to resorts across the globe.

In a news release, Vail Resorts said it is making the move to honor the loyalty of its passholders.

“The ski industry, our company and skiers and riders everywhere just navigated the most challenging season we have ever encountered,” CEO Rob Katz said in the release. “… As we double down on our pass strategy by dramatically reducing our pass prices, we are excited to make it easier for everyone to move into a pass, and we remain fully committed to ensuring continuous improvements in the guest experience.”

Katz went on to say that the pricing change also is an effort to grow the sport and make it more affordable.

“The new prices announced (Wednesday) not only provide value to existing skiers and riders, but we also believe they will contribute to the growth and vitality of our sport as we bring new people and higher engagement into the industry, which we think is imperative,” Katz said. “We also believe these lower prices will benefit our financial results based on new learnings from the past few years.”

The price reduction applies to the entire Epic Pass portfolio, which is on sale for the 2021-22 winter son at EpicPass.com.  The Epic Local Pass is now available for $583 (down from $729 last season) with no blackout dates, and the full Epic Pass is priced at $783 (down from $979 last season).

All 2021-22 pass products will come with Epic Coverage, at no additional cost, which provides full or partial refunds for personal events like job loss, injury or illness, as well as for certain resort closures, including closures due to COVID-19.

The move comes a little more than a year after COVID-19 cut the 2019-20 season short. Vail Resorts made the unprecedented decision to temporarily shut down all of its North American resorts March 14, 2020 — a decision that became permanent in the days that followed.

The company was then forced to reinvent the on-mountain experience at all of its resorts in just eight months to pull off a ski season in a pandemic, which included launching a much-scrutinized reservation system to limit crowds..

Frisco cancels 2021 Colorado BBQ Challenge

 

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Though case data and vaccination rates are improving, the town of Frisco has canceled the 2021 Colorado BBQ Challenge. Last year, the event was postponed and eventually canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year’s event would have occurred June 17-19.

Current public health orders allow for outdoor events with a maximum of 175 participants, and the next phase of reopening moves the maximum attendance to 250 people. However, the event typically draws 12,000 to 14,000 attendees over two days.

“It is not responsible or in support of the health of our community and visitors to have an event which brings over 12,000 folks together on Main Street in three months,” Vanessa Agee, Frisco’s director of marketing and communications, said in a news release. “That said, stay tuned for future announcements about how we will be able to celebrate in Frisco this summer on a smaller scale.”

In an unusual move for the ski industry, Arapahoe Basin works to reduce skier numbers

 

 

Arapahoe Basin Ski Area’s ongoing effort to reduce the number of skiers on the mountain is bucking ski industry trends.

Summit County’s oldest ski area announced Friday that it would reduce the number of season passes it sells by 10% in an effort to preserve its “culture and vibe.”

While some Colorado ski areas have opted to partner with Alterra Mountain Co. or Vail Resorts and open their mountains to unlimited skiing and riding for Epic or Ikon passholders, A-Basin has taken steps back from the mega pass trend over the past two seasons.

Looking ahead to next season, the ski area will limit the number of lift tickets sold each day and cap the number of available season passes at 90% of what was sold this season. As part of the change, all tickets must be purchased online and in advance — no lift tickets will be sold on-site — and the ski area anticipates selling out of weekend lift tickets on a regular basis.

“We know pretty clearly when things start to get a little too busy, so we’re really focused on just trying to get just up to that threshold without getting too busy,” Henceroth said. “And we think we can really do that with … reduction in season pass numbers and limiting lift ticket sales on a daily basis.”

‘Lopsided Recovery’ Still Causing Housing Market Hurdles

The housing market largely outperformed the rest of the economy throughout 2020. But the housing market’s recovery still remains more “lopsided than ever as the gap between buyer demand and supply widens,” according to a newly released report from realtor.com® about the pandemic’s impact on the housing market over the past year.

New listings remain well-below the pre-COVID-19 baseline. However, the housing market overall in sales is performing above pre-pandemic levels, according to realtor.com®’s Housing Market Recovery Index.

“The housing market bounced back so much faster than other sectors of the economy that many have forgotten that housing activity slowed to a crawl during the early days of the pandemic,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist. “One year later, the demand for housing remains strong, while supply remains limited.”

Realtor.com® reports there are 50% fewer homes available for sale now than a year ago. The homes that are on the market are selling quickly. During the week ending March 6, homes sold, on average, six days faster than a year ago. “Buyers not only have fewer homes to choose from, they need to act fast to succeed,” realtor.com® notes in its report.

Forecast calls for 10-20 inches in Summit with much more east of the divide

 The Front Range is set to get hit by a massive upslope snowstorm that is likely to be measured in feet rather than inches. The forecast is less robust for Summit County but should still bring a nice refresh to ski resorts.

The storm is expected to arrive in earnest Friday evening with steady snowfall until the sun peeks though the clouds again on Monday.

The National Weather Service forecast office in Boulder has issued a winter storm watch from 5 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Monday, and is calling for 10-20 inches of snow west of the Continental Divide with winds gusting to 35 mph.

Ski area forecasting site OpenSnow also is calling for 10-20 inches of accumulation, saying the ski areas closest to the divide, including Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and Keystone Resort, are expected to do the best.

The Weather Service has warned that travel could be “impossible” during the storm, and the Colorado Department of Transportation has asked people to avoid traveling, particularly on the Interstate 70 mountain corridor.

Frisco plans to bring back pedestrian promenade this summer

Pedestrians

The Frisco Pedestrian Promenade will return to Main Street this summer, and with more than three months to plan, officials are hopeful they’ll be able to improve on the concept from last year.

The Frisco Town Council discussed the future of the promenade during a work session Tuesday, March 9, and while a consensus ultimately formed to bring the attraction back — along with some improvements — some members of the council pushed back against its return.

Earlier this month, Frisco issued a survey to businesses and residents hoping to get their opinions on the promenade’s potential return. Of the more than 300 respondents, more than 85% said they’d like to see it back this summer. About 55% of respondents were Frisco residents, about 16% were either business owners or managers, and about 14% identified as both a business owner and resident.

Respondents also provided insights into how they’d like to see the concept improve, with many voicing a desire to see more shaded areas, painted fencing and upgrades to the overall beautification of Main Street.

The council largely agreed that improvements could be made, in particular in terms of decoration. Council member Melissa Sherburne suggested bringing in the Make Frisco artist collective to help.

“I’d like to propose that we start that conversation early so we can get the ball rolling and really be thoughtful to bring the promenade to life a little bit more in terms of light and color and sort of accenting what we did last year,” Sherburne said.

Others emphasized that the promenade was a good opportunity for bringing the community together, and that it fit in well with the town’s strategic goals, even outside of motivations brought on by COVID-19.

“Last year, the ‘why’ was very much COVID related, but it doesn’t have to stay that way,” council member Jessie Burley said. “That’s how good projects evolve. And so I think even if the ‘why’ this summer isn’t necessarily COVID related, the ‘why’ is the community engagement and the energy we saw coming out of this project last year. … Seeing the activation of that last year, you know when we go back to our goals and our vision about trying to engage the community and bring them out, this is checking all of those boxes.”

Council member Dan Fallon came out against the promenade’s return, saying that he didn’t want to default to a pedestrian-only Main Street without first knowing what potential COVID-19 restrictions the town would be dealing with this summer and that the concept might fall flat if things begin to return to normal.

“I don’t think that the promenade, outside of those (COVID-19) constraints, floats enough boats to make it a net benefit to the community,” Fallon said. “… The promenade was really a salient social feature primarily, I think, because of the absence of anything else. … At the end of the day, before COVID, Main Street wasn’t broken in my world. The parklets were an interesting idea, and I think we can expand on that. But right now, I’m reticent to be giving up public space to private enterprise for their benefit without some other really demonstrated social benefit or community benefit. I’m not seeing it.”

HOW THE COVID VACCINE COULD HELP SPUR THE UPCOMING HOME SHOPPING SEASON

 

As it stands today, roughly 52% of homeowners say they would be comfortable moving to a new home under the current public health conditions, but the percentage of comfortable homeowners increases to 70% after widespread COVID-19 vaccine distribution, according to a recent Zillow survey of U.S. homeowners. Manny Garcia, Zillow population scientist, says that’s a difference equal to more than 14 million households feeling newly comfortable moving once the vaccine is administered to a larger portion of the population.

“We expect that the vaccine rollout will likely boost inventory, as sellers become increasingly willing to move despite COVID-19, resulting in greater numbers of new listings beginning this spring,” says Garcia in the Zillow report. “That injection of inventory could give buyers more options and breathing room in a competitive market. The vaccine, however, will also likely add to already-strong demand, given that most sellers will become buyers as they trade in for a home that better suits their new needs.”

Vail, Breckenridge Make List of 7 Top Hot Spots for Winter Vacations Homes

 

Vail, Breckenridge Make List of 7 Top Hot Spots for Winter Vacation Homes CAR | 03.02.2021

 Properties in ski towns may offer a big income stream for second-home buyers. 

After all, vacation homes have been trending during the pandemic, whether it’s a home in a cold- or a warm- weather locale. Second-home sales jumped 44% in 2020, according to data from the National Association of REALTORS®. 

Snowy hot spots are among those seeing surging demand. 

Searches for homes in ski towns surged 36% annually in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to research from realtor.com®. 

In fact, ski towns were rising higher in buyer interest than warmer areas of the country, realtor.com® noted.

Understanding Colorado’s ongoing drought

 

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The state’s snowpack sits at 84% as of March . Not too terrible, right? While this is an improvement from a month ago, Colorado has experienced nine straight months of above-average temperatures combined with 11 months of below-average precipitatio. And 100% of the state remains in drough as of March 4.

The prolonged drying and warming trend makes our soil really, really thirsty. As snows melts and rain begins to fall, the soil soaks up all the moisture, leaving less water to flow into local rivers. We see this happening in Colorado. In December, the Animas River near Durango saw the lowest stream flows in 109 year of record keeping. And forecasters don’t see relief on the horizon. The National Weather Service’s long-term climate forecas predict months of continued above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation.

All these trends have fire officials and emergency workers concerned for another frightening fire season. Although the winter of 2019-20 offered up a relatively average snowpac, the summer and fall of 2020 saw Colorado’s three largest wildfires burn more than a half-million acres. The entire state was blanketed with smoke from fires near and far, and the lack of summer rainfall created parched soils in advance of this season’s lackluster snowfall.

Already, state legislators are working on bills that address wildfire prevention, relief and suppression, including the purchase of a specialized firefighting helicopter. The idea is to get the bills passed before the start of wildfire season. Additional funding would support watershed protection, a critical need in the face of major wildfires. A fire-scarred landscape is more susceptible to erosion. And when snow melts or rain falls, eroding ash and sediment muck up water supplies.

In the first two years following the 2002 Hayman Fire, water providers spent $25 millio removing sediment and debris from Cheeseman Reservoir, a major source of drinking water for the Front Range. And by September of last year, Glenwood Springs had already identified more than $10 million in repair needed to improve water infrastructure as a result of the Grizzly Creek Fire.

As far as drought, Gov. Jared Polis in late November activated the municipal portion of the state’s emergency drought plan. That created a task force to help the state’s 700-plus water providers — who deliver clean water to homes, schools, hospitals, businesses and more — prepare for the anticipated drought challenges ahead. The task force already has conducted a survey to identify water provider needs, and they offer resources to help water providers plan for drought response.

While a few good storms won’t change the long-term outlook, I’m certainly hoping for powder this spring. In the meantime, we can all do our part to ready ourselves and our community for the changing environment. Maybe it’s preparing for increased wildfire risk through defensible space. Or perhaps this spring you’ll encourage your HOA to replace turf grass with low-water landscaping. Before the snow even begins to dwindle from the high peaks, let’s all take time to appreciate – and protect – our critical water resources.

Ask Eartha Steward is written by the staff at the High Country Conservation Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to waste reduction and resource conservation. Submit questions to Eartha at info@highcountryconservation.org

United Airlines introduces direct bus service from DIA to Breckenridge

 

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United Airlines is rolling out a new offering at Denver International Airport designed to get Colorado visitors off their planes and into the mountains ASAP. The mechanism: A bus.

The carrier, the largest operator at DIA, announced Friday that it is partnering with ground transportation company Landline on a service that will allow passengers to get off their planes and board a bus from the airport’s Concourse A direct to Breckenridge.

No airport train to the terminal, waiting for bags at the carousel, taking a shuttle to a rental car office or hailing a cab, Lyft or Uber. United will transfer customers’ bags from their planes to the Landline buses for them. The drop-off point in Summit County, 319 N. Main St., is about 100 yards away from the gondola for Breckenridge Ski Resort, airline officials touted this week.

“We wanted to get really creative about how to provide a seamless, no-friction customer experience that we really think will be kind of a game-changer with how easy it is,” said Janet Lamkin, United’s senior vice president of market and community innovation.

Tickets for the Breckenridge route went on sale Friday with the first bus trips back and forth March 11. A single mountain-bound bus will leave the airport at 11:15 a.m. daily and set out in the opposite direction between 1:55 and 2:25 p.m. depending on the day of the week, according to a news release.

Pending home sales drop, but there’s a silver lining

 

It’s like the Yogi Berra quote – nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded. For the fifth consecutive month, U.S. pending home sales dipped – this time, down 2.8% in January from December, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. And inventory shortages are the culprit.

Despite the decline, many industry observers see big potential for the housing market in the year ahead.

It’s no secret that low mortgage rates and societal shifts brought on by COVID-19 have collided to form a red-hot housing market. But many would-be buyers have also been thwarted by comically low resale inventory, as well as supply chain constraints and escalating materials costs that have made life difficult for homebuilders. January was illustrative.

“Pending home sales fell in January because there are simply not enough homes to match the demand on the market,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “That said, there has been an increase in permits and requests to build new homes.”

According to the NAR, the South (+0.1%) was the lone region with a gain from the month prior, while the other three major U.S. regions – the Northeast (-7.4%), Midwest (-0.9%), and West (-7.8%) – experienced month-over-month decreases in January. All four areas saw contract transactions increase from a year-over-year standpoint.

Breckenridge discusses rules to limit new short-term rental units

 

Breckenridge town staff estimates that there are more than 100 residences in town where a room or lock-off unit is rented out short-term, and the town council plans to do something about it.

Community Development Director Mark Truckey explained during a Breckenridge Town Council work session Tuesday, Feb. 23, that the town planning commission is concerned about an increasing number of short-term rental units in town. He explained that new single-family residential proposals include areas that easily could be converted into lock-off apartments, potentially creating a second short-term rental unit on the property.

Currently, town code says that if a lock-off apartment includes a separate kitchen, it must be deed restricted as an accessory dwelling unit to someone who works at least 30 hours per week in the county.

However, Truckey said many new home plans include areas that could be used as apartments but technically aren’t required to be deed restricted because they don’t include a separate kitchen. Truckey said that while staff plans to clarify what constitutes an accessory dwelling unit that must be deed restricted, he doesn’t think the issue will be resolved in the code because there will always be loopholes.

“You’re never going to be able to work your way out of this problem with code because people will always build something and then work their way around it,” Mamula said. “What we need to do is start flagging some of these new homes in some new categories so they cannot get a license to rent. I think somewhere in there is a potential legal way for us to prohibit this kind of thing from becoming an issue.”

Mamula said that unless homeowners rent the entire home, they shouldn’t be allowed to short-term rent units of a new home. Town Manager Rick Holman said the town estimates there are more than 100 incidences in town of homeowners renting out a room or lock-off unit short-term. Mamula noted that prior to services like Airbnb and VRBO, these types of rental units went to the local workforce. He said the units now go to short-term renters because it is more profitable.

Breckenridge to place security on Main Street during spring break to enforce public health orders

The Breckenridge Town Council discussed ways to support front-line workers during the busy spring break period at a work session Tuesday, Feb. 23, and decided to employ one to two security personnel from the Breckenridge Municipal Court to patrol the downtown area each day.

“There’s a fear that some of the prevalent attitude that we’re seeing and some of the problems that are being given to front-line workers and the different things that are occurring is only going to be worse during those peak two-week periods of mid-March,” Holman said. “The colleges that are having more of a traditional spring break, those people come here, then we’re going to see that be even more prevalent.”

Holman said some of the colleges that are scheduled to have more traditional spring breaks are from southern states, where there are fewer COVID-19 restrictions than in Colorado, which he said could cause problems for front-line workers during this time period. Bringing back the summertime mask ambassadors was suggested as a solution, but Holman said he did not feel the ambassadors were successful and said people patrolling Main Street would need a higher level of training and authority to be effective.

White River National Forest seeks comments on aspen management project

 

The White River National Forest is seeking comments on a proposed aspen management project, which is designed to improve the health of aspen forests and wildlife habitat.

According to a release from the Forest Service, many aspen forests have experienced decline over the past few decades due to drought, insects and disease. Wildfire suppression has also allowed conifers to replace aspen forests in some areas. The aspen management project proposes using a combination of timber harvesting and prescribed fires to maintain and expand aspen stands in the White River National Forest.

The White River National Forest is 2.3 million acres and contains around 600,000 acres of aspen. Approximately 375,000 acres meet guidelines for where management would be considered under the proposal. Within this area, the project proposes various harvesting methods on up to 10,000 acres per decade and prescribed fire methods on an additional 10,000 acres per decade.ore information about the 

More information about the project proposal can be found at Bit.ly/3bs51Mv.

Colorado officials hold summit to get public feedback on wildfire mitigation and recovery

 

 

During a virtual panel discussion Thursday afternoon, Colorado officials emphasized a need for more cooperation among federal, state and local actors in Colorado’s fight against wildfires.

Rep. Joe Neguse, who serves Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, hosted a public listening session Thursday, Feb. 18, to gain insights on the impacts and potential solutions to combat growing concerns about wildfires in the state. The session featured a panel discussion between Neguse, Gov. Jared Polis, Colorado Department of Public Safety Director Stan Hilkey and Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet.

In the wide-ranging discussion, officials shared their perspectives on the changes necessary to protect Colorado’s public lands, property and lives, and they turned to residents for questions and to share their experiences with local wildfires in recent years.

One prevailing theme throughout the session was a need for more robust national support for Coloradans and other Americans throughout the West dealing with a new age of megafires. Bennet said the issue would require a hegemonic shift in understanding about the dangers wildfires pose to the state’s infrastructure, environment and economy.

“One of the most important things we can do is change the way Congress thinks about our forests,” Bennet said. “Politicians in Washington need to understand that in Colorado, and across the West, forests are our infrastructure. They are as important to our state’s economy as the Lincoln Tunnel is to New York. But the truth is we have major challenges with this infrastructure. We’re now dealing with the consequences of a century of fire suppression and chronic underfunding for the U.S. Forest Service. When you combine that with climate change, it’s put the agency and state and local governments in a nearly impossible position. …

“We’re paying for wildfires after they happen rather than investing on the front end. That’s fiscally irresponsible, and … we need, I think, a major shift at the national level to prioritize forest restoration and wildfire mitigation — and a major investment to go with it.”

U.S. Luxury Market Has Strong End of 2020, Especially in Suburban and Second-Home Areas

 

The largest and most heavily populated cities across the U.S. continued their fall from grace at the tail end of 2020 as well-heeled home buyers directed their attention from metropolises to suburban living, according to Monday’s luxury market report from realtor.com.

The online property portal tracks the top 5% most expensive residential listings in 95 counties for its luxury index, and it was suburbs and secondary luxury markets that had the most prosperous fourth quarter in 2020.

Those increases are being underpinned by the seemingly insatiable appetite for more square footage, more privacy and more green space—amenities that are scarce in city centers.

“Suburbs and secondary markets in Colorado and California saw especially strong growth, which follows the widespread trend of buyers choosing the suburbs over urban life during the pandemic, while big city markets like the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Boston and Hawaii saw the largest luxury home price declines,” she added.  Danielle Hale, realtor.com’s chief economist, said in the report.

Vail Health’s Dillon medical center set for fall completion

 

 

Construction is continuing according to plan at Vail Health’s new Dillon Health Center located on the corner of U.S. Highway 6 and Dillon Dam Road.

When the health system broke ground on the 85,000-square-foot building, the goal was to have construction completed in fall 2021 while meeting a $70 million budget. So far, Vail Health and its developing partner have been able to stick to that plan.

“We still got nine or 10 months to go and if it’s nine versus if it’s 10, that’s a different dollar amount,” said Craig Cohn, Vail Health’s chief real estate and development officer. “Within a reasonable range, we still feel like we’re tracking relatively close to schedule and on budget for the project.”

When it’s complete, the health center will offer a wide variety of services, including urgent, primary and specialty care. Family medicine will be offered through Colorado Mountain Medical, which is a subsidiary of Vail Health.

When it comes to specialty care, the center will offer a wide array of options. The center will provide cancer care that is more comprehensive than what Vail Health already has in the county, CEO Will Cook said.

Pow panic in a pandemic: Lift lines, mask issues during busy weekend at Vail

 

With demand for powder skiing pent up for half the season, Vail Mountain has experienced massive crowds over the past two weekends.

The Vail Daily has received numerous reports of mask-related confrontations occurring in lift lines in recent weeks. And other crowd-related confrontations have occurred, as well.

In a letter to the Vail Daily, Peter Savoie said he witnessed a fist fight Saturday in the lift line to exit Blue Sky Basin at Chair 36.

“Shame on the aggressor for trying to cut approximately four minutes of his time in line, but to all who witnessed the ugly event, it was a reminder of the overcrowded conditions that exist on the mountain,” Savoie wrote.

Plack said the resort doesn’t take kindly to foul language, much less physical confrontations.

“There is absolutely no place for vulgarity or disrespect at our resorts, and guests should contact the resort ski patrol hotlines, staff members or supervisors, or mountain security if they feel they are being mistreated by others,” Plack said. “Ski patrol emergency and nonemergency numbers can easily be found on the EpicMix app.”